I have to admit that I seldom remember for long what occurs to me as a part of my morning devotional time.  But I have a very clear memory of one morning, about 20 years ago.  I was sitting in my favorite “quiet spot,” in one of the chairs I inherited from my grandmother, reading and praying.  The kids had gone to school, and the house was quiet.  That morning, Gary was meeting with the Defiance District Committee on ordained ministry, because he was exploring the possibility of entering the process to become ordained.  I remember very clearly reading one of those verses from Paul about women keeping their silence; and reacting with a sense of how unfair that was.  As quickly as I thought it, an assurance came to me:  “your turn will come, but for now, keep your silence.”  I did not know then that I would one day be meeting with a District Committee to explore my own call, but I did get a sense of peace from that assurance.  Nor did I know how drastically our family’s life would change direction over the next two years.  We had begun, both Gary and me, to offer our lives more intentionally to Christ.  We spoke about this just yesterday.  We truly cannot imagine what our lives would be like if we had not followed the inviting grace of God, leading us from decision to decision, from one opportunity to the next, and through a series of congregational relationships, every one of which has contributed to our faith development.

(Gary speaks of his call to the ministry of the laity)

It is the witness of the New Testament that the ministry of the church belongs primarily to the Laity.  Today we are talking about practices of intentional faith formation – and the ministries that flow from the lives of those who offer themselves to be formed and shaped by Jesus Christ.  These ministries take place both within the life of the church, and in all the relationships which are a part of our daily lives – family, work, and community.

How do you cultivate your relationship with Christ outside of worship?  What small group or discipline develops faith in you?

Disciple Bible Study…Disciples of Christ in Christian Community…United Methodist Men…Circles…Sermon Shaping…Sunday School classes.

Faith development requires knowledge of the Bible, the stories that teach us the truth about who we are and who God is – and that plumb the depths and explore the heights of that relationship.  Faith development requires – knowledge of basic Christian beliefs.  Faith development requires – a vocabulary of faith.  And it requires that this learning take place in community.  Relationships are essential to faith development.

What faith forming experience has been most influential on your own faith development?

If you heard about a learning experience in those words that you would like to participate in, would you just write that down on the back of your registration card?

The words spoken by Jesus in today’s gospels story remind the church of what has always been asked of people with faith in the God of Israel.  We are asked to love God and to love our neighbor.

It has been reported that St.  Francis de Sales was queried by a disciple.  “Sir, you speak so much about the love of God, but you never tell us how to achieve it.  Won’t you tell me how one comes to love God.”  St. Francis replied, “There is only one way and that is to love God.”  The questioner persisted, “But, how do you engender this love of God?”  Again, St. Francis replied, “By loving God.”  Again, the questioner persisted, “But what do you do?  What steps do you take in order to come into possession of this love?”

“You begin by loving, and you go on loving, and loving teaches you how to love.” The practices that we are working with over these five weeks are all interrelated.  We must, as a community, develop the capacity to practice all of them, because they develop this capacity for love of God and neighbor.

Radical Hospitality
      Ministries?
Passionate Worship
      Ministries?
Intentional Faith Development
      Ministries?
Risk-Taking Mission and Service
      Ministries?
And Extravagant Generosity.
      Of time, of talent, of money, of body, soul and mind.

If you heard something there that made you think, “maybe I’d like to do that…”  would you just write that down on the back of your registration card?

Elizabeth O’Connor, long a part of The Church of the Savior, in Washington, D.C., writes of her community’s understanding of “church.”  “…it is a gift – evoking, gift-bearing community – a description based on the conviction that when God calls a person he calls him into the fullness of his own potential.” I think this is really my testimony and Gary’s testimony and the testimony of so many of you who speak this morning with your voices and every day with your lives.  Practicing the faith of Christ in community and living that practice every day fulfills our God-given potential.

This practice is not called “magical faith development.”  It is called “intentional faith development.”  My pledge to you is that North Broadway will develop more opportunities for faith development over the next year.  I hope that you will hear these opportunities as an invitation from God to make faith development a priority to which you will commit your time, in order that you might discover how you are gifted and called, find fulfillment in reaching your God given potential, and discover that by practicing faith, you have developed faith.

May it be so.